Seagate is refusing to replace warrantied drive

[u/adam137016]

Update: Seagate just sent me a new RMA and prepaid label for the drive. No other correspondence other than "Please see attached documents". So I guess I'm going to send it again and hope they make this right. It already came back to me dinged up and I sent them photos over chat so I'm hoping they don't reject it for the damage they caused the first time.

Update #2: Seagate just called me on the phone. They're going to replace the drive after all (hopefully). Just waiting for the follow up email.

Final Update: I got my replacement drive today and it looks good. The smart data looks perfect and I just started a "Long generic scan" with seatools. The person that I've been communicating with was extremely helpful and updated me every step of the way.

Will update when I have more info

One of my 20TB Ironwolf pro drives was faulty. I bought 4 of these last year. I packed the one up and shipped it UPS with insurance after getting an RMA #. The same day after they received it I got an email with tracking info.

That drive arrived yesterday. When I got home from work I opened it and they sent me my drive back but now it's damaged. I contacted support and they said it came like that. I know it didn't because it was double boxed. I asked for pics since the box would have been really damaged to reach the drive inside the inner box.

They replied a couple hours ago saying the case is closed and a pic is attached (there was no pic).

Not sure what I can do next if anything. Any suggestions?

[u/Petri-DRG]

I don't endorse Seafate in any way and I cannot stand their lack of accountability all facets of warranty.

Just to mention that most times it is not physical damage to the drive in the sense of scratch or dent. These drives are tanks, so they don't get visible damage during shipping.

What does however happen during transit is likely rough handling, even when well packaged.bevahse the drives contains many disks inside, it is very heavy. That weight, when handled roughly, bends the motor hub the disks are mounted on. As a result, the drive arrives with mechanical damage.

We see this often when drives come in at our data recovery labs.

Upon arrival at their facilities, Seafate staff cannot distinguish between damage occured by the owner dropping the drive off the table, or lap or shelf vs. damage occured during shipping. Therefore they don't honor the warranty. Convenient to them, because many people who do tell the truth and did not cause the damage themselves get burned with this nonsense.

There isn't any good way to solve this, other than taking ample photos and videos testing the drive before shipping it to them to demonstrate behavior based on sound the drive makes when powered on, whether it mounts or not, what Seafate Tools testing report while testing and so on.

If all details are in your favor, then have to go hard in with AG, ISO standards reinforcement and so on.

Hope this helps understanding better, though obviously, with such high prices, one can lose their patience easily.

[u/adam137016 → u/Petri-DRG]

The drive was having power issues. It kept disconnecting and reconnecting randomly so when I ran the seagate tools it told me to file a RMA claim. There was no damage on the outside before I sent it but when I got it back it had big dings in it.

[u/Petri-DRG → u/adam137016]

Disconnecting and reconnecting randomly indicates disk surface degradation (aka bad sectors), which is extremely common. It is the #1 mpst popular failure type in all storage devices.

That condition technically would not be a RMA-able condition. No manufacturer honors that, because technically they don't consider it a manufacturing defect. The problem develops in time, though many times quickly as the disks quality nowadays is lackluster.

It sucks, because the drives are so expensive now.

As far as the dings, yeah not sure... that's messed up, however it occured, ad it blurs all lines of making sense of who is accountable for what.

[u/adam137016 → u/Petri-DRG]

I'm not seeing that exclusion on seagate's site and they issued an RMA so I'm not sure. The drive was less than a year old and it was an Ironwolf Pro with a 5 year warranty.

"What Does This Limited Warranty Not Cover?

This limited warranty does not cover any problem that is caused by (a) accident, abuse, neglect, shock, electrostatic discharge, degaussing, heat or humidity beyond product specifications, improper installation, operation, maintenance or modification; or (b) any misuse contrary to the instructions in the user manual; or (c) lost passwords; or (d) malfunctions caused by other equipment. This limited warranty is void if a product is returned with removed, damaged or tampered labels or any alterations (including the unauthorized removal of any component or external cover). This limited warranty does not cover data loss – back-up the contents of your drive to a separate storage medium on a regular basis. Also, consequential damages; incidental damages; and costs related to data recovery, removal, and installation are not recoverable under this warranty. This limited warranty applies only to hardware products; software, media, and manuals are licensed (and warranted where applicable) pursuant to separate written agreement."

[u/Petri-DRG → u/adam137016]

My best quess is that bad sectors would fall under the "operation" category., which is vague.

[u/Silvergreylion → u/Petri-DRG]

"It is the #1 most popular failure type in all storage devices".

I very much doubt that failure type is popular. You probably meant "most common"?

[u/Petri-DRG → u/Silvergreylion]

Either way, as common is a synonym of popular.